“You calling me your duchess.” She let her gaze drop to his sinfully perfect mouth, which she desperately wanted to kiss. “It’s not because I like the title. It’s because I’m yours.”
“You are mine,” he promised. “Until the stars fall from the skies and an eternity beyond.”
Then, with all the perfection of a fairy tale duke who’d longed his entire life for love, he leaned in and kissed the woman he adored with every breath in his body. His duchess. His wife.
EPILOGUE
TWO MONTHS LATER…
Warren Burville was deep in his cups, which was a very dangerous thing. His vision swam as he left the coaching inn and staggered toward the waiting vehicle. It wasn’t a public mail coach, but it was not his coach either. He had foolishly forgotten to notify his driver of his plans to travel to the country, where he was to attend Darius and Meredith’s first country house party as a married couple. His driver, Mr. Leeds, had apologized profusely when he explained that his coach was unavailable while a broken axel was being repaired.
It was a damned nuisance to hire a private travel coach like this. Still, he was too foxed to ride a hired horse. He couldn’t take the chance that he’d fall asleep and slip off the saddle.
The moon was high in the sky, illuminating the ground outside the inn. The coach driver loaded Warren’s travel trunk and valise onto the back and strapped them down on top of another two trunks.
“Are we ready to depart?” Warren asked as the driver finished the task.
“Yes sir. The other passenger is ready to depart.”
Warren halted, his hand on the coach door. “Other passenger?”
“Yes. When the innkeeper heard your destination, he asked to book another passenger who was traveling in the same direction.”
“But I requested a private coach,” Warren growled.
“It is a private coach, sir,” the driver replied flatly. “But as you are both headed to the same destination, I was able to take the additional fare.”
“Fine.” Warren muttered. Perhaps it was another of the house party guests. His head was pounding again, and the driver’s voice was like a knife to his skull.
He wrenched the coach door open none too gently and climbed into the vehicle. He could just make out another figure in the dim confines of the coach. Figuring he should greet the fellow, he held out a hand. But before Warren could say a word, the coach jolted into motion, sending him crashing into the other person.
He grunted as he landed on something soft and most decidedly feminine. So, not a fellow then.
“I beg your pardon!” the woman hissed, shoving hard at his shoulders.
He grinned as his body pinned hers in the coach seat. “Darling, beg all you wish, and I will endeavor to deliver.” She seemed warm and inviting, this mystery creature.
A palm connected with his cheek, and the pain, however temporary, was like a bucket of cold water, providing much needed clarity on the situation.
He pushed away from the woman and collapsed on the opposite seat, groaning as the world tilted. He tried to get a clear look at the woman facing him, but all he could make out was a dull frock and the pert bonnet with ribbons tied into a massive bow at the base of her chin. Who the devil wore a bonnet at night? The woman’s features were too shrouded in shadow from the bonnet for him to see her clearly, but he was definitely seeing double of her.
“I say, do you perchance have a twin?” He teased. “Because I’m seeing two of you.”
“Are you drunk?” The woman demanded. He found the tone of feminine anger oddly arousing. He had never cared for fussy woman in general, but he was genuinely intrigued by this particular midnight mystery.
“Oh yes, quite foxed, darling. Have you ever been foxed?”
“Of course not! Only a fool would drink so much that they’d lose control, as you so clearly have.”
Warren grinned. The moonlight entering the coach was lighting up his face, which meant it also lit up his smile. Even drunk, he knew what effect his smile could have on a woman.
“I was in the midst of a card game. It was hard to lose, so had to drink to make sure that I did, in fact, lose.”
She scoffed. “You wanted to lose a card game?”
“Oh yes.” He continued to grin, because he knew she had to ask another question.
“Why?” she finally asked.
